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General Mad to switch to steelies

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General Mad to switch to steelies

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sams500

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I currently live in London and use my lounge as a city car.

It has the 16in alloys but the ride is dreadful and I am constantly wary of potholes and speed bumps.

I am seriously considering switching to steels - for both economy and ride comfort and the peace of mind of not giving a damn.

Am I insane or will the ride and economy improve substantially.

It will also give me an opportunity to refurb the alloys which have very minor marks.

Am I mad to switch to the steels or will the 15 alloys be a better better (and more expensive).

Any advice appreciated

thanks
 
sams500 said:
I currently live in London and use my lounge as a city car.

It has the 16in alloys but the ride is dreadful and I am constantly wary of potholes and speed bumps.

I am seriously considering switching to steels - for both economy and ride comfort and the peace of mind of not giving a damn.

Am I insane or will the ride and economy improve substantially.

It will also give me an opportunity to refurb the alloys which have very minor marks.

Am I mad to switch to the steels or will the 15 alloys be a better better (and more expensive).

Any advice appreciated

thanks
Click to expand...
Not insane at all. My 500 has 14" steelies in the winter and 16" alloys the rest of the year. Without a doubt the car is more comfy on the steelies and about 10% more economical. Personally if it were me I'd happily put the steelies on the car BUT if you're planning on selling it on within the near future, I'd keep the alloys to put on the car as I reckon they'll be worth more on the car than on Ebay :)
 
306maxi said:
Not insane at all. My 500 has 14" steelies in the winter and 16" alloys the rest of the year. Without a doubt the car is more comfy on the steelies and about 10% more economical. Personally if it were me I'd happily put the steelies on the car BUT if you're planning on selling it on within the near future, I'd keep the alloys to put on the car as I reckon they'll be worth more on the car than on Ebay :)
Click to expand...

Spot on with that advice. I bought a set of steelies, tyres & trims to replace my 15" alloys when I bought my own 500, for the same reasons:).
 
Last edited:
I drive with the 15's in Greece (worst roads in the EURO zone for sure!) and they are fine. My previous car had 16's and my friends always complained that the ride in my car was absolutely horrible. If I were you, as mentioned above, switch the 16s with someone's 15's. Steelies would make the car look too ugly.
 
sams500 said:
I currently live in London and use my lounge as a city car. It has the 16in alloys but the ride is dreadful and I am constantly wary of potholes and speed bumps.I am seriously considering switching to steels - for both economy and ride comfort and the peace of mind of not giving a damn.Am I insane or will the ride and economy improve substantially.It will also give me an opportunity to refurb the alloys which have very minor marks.Am I mad to switch to the steels or will the 15 alloys be a better better (and more expensive).Any advice appreciated
thanks
Click to expand...

I would agree with all the contributions before me. On your opening post you don't mention which engine variant you have or if your car is a pre 2010 which hasn't got the newer suspension setup. Generally a heavier engine can help to balance a stiffer ride setup. This was evident on a 323i verus 318is with the 'M' suspenion on the same wheels with the former having the better ride. I've no experience of say a 1.2 and and 1.4 on 16s so I cann't really comment on this on the 500 :confused:.
But what I will say is the ride comfort & performance a top of the range tyres verus a replacement budget tyres is really noticeable. I've found this on a newer 1.4 '09 with continental tyres (y) verus an older 1.4 '08 with replacement Nero tyres (n). On the continentals there's a tyre protection of sorts which quite obviously didn't help :eek: the previous driver of my car as evident on the multispoke picture.
http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/reifen/sommerreifen/2010_Sommerreifen_Test_185_65_R15.aspx?ComponentId =29770&SourcePageId=31821
The URL above might help to pick the optimium tyre for comfort (I'd imagine there are many more 'sites' out there).

On the comment both economy and ride comfort and the peace of mind of not giving a damn I would be inclinded to go with Maxi's & JRs recommendation of a set of steelies and keep the 16s for re-sale knowing that it might end up looking lke a Micra :eek: :).


 

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Its a 1.2, 2010 model I think (well I have the dash attachment for the GPS device).

I think I will go ahead and get the steelies, as the alloys secondhand are twice the price
 
sams500 said:
Its a 1.2, 2010 model I think (well I have the dash attachment for the GPS device).
I think I will go ahead and get the steelies, as the alloys secondhand are twice the price
Click to expand...

You have the uprated suspension so 15s would still give you very good comfort. Came across these 14inch hub caps on ebay - don't know what they are like in the 'flesh' but they would be different that the standard hub caps.
This might seem OTT but I would probably inform your insurance company about the wheel change. They can be unbelieveable if the unforeseen should happen.
 

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What was your impression of the hub cap ?
I thought anyone that was into multispokes would like them if you for whatever reason you didn't or couldn't have the alloys.
 
OP here! - I like those hubcaps different to what is on every other one.

I have had a look under the car when I first got it and I thought it had the rear ARB (well it seemed the same as the Ford Ka that was in the car park). But then I looked under an older 500 and it seemed to have the same bar.

At that point I was totally confused.

I think I will go for the cheaper steel option.
 
sams500 said:
OP here! - I like those hubcaps different to what is on every other one.
glad you like them
I have had a look under the car when I first got it and I thought it had the rear ARB (well it seemed the same as the Ford Ka that was in the car park). But then I looked under an older 500 and it seemed to have the same bar.
I only have a 1.4 to look at
At that point I was totally confused.

I think I will go for the cheaper steel option.
Click to expand...

An earlier post. Someone did promise to put up a picture of the ARB :p
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/272129-lounge-start-stop-suspension.html?p=2780009

I reckon you might have bridgestones on your current 1.2 Lounge ?
 
I did see that but my car is currently away so will check again when I see the car again.

Will go and buy the steels this weekend
 
500 gets away with steelies, i especially like the chrome hub caps

i think both TAs i test drove were on 15s and were fine, in reality i reckon for me the 16s will be ok (not decided what i'll run for winter but in reality prob 16s) and will be interesting to see what ride is like
 
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